Everybody Talks
by LGCoffeeAddict
Summary: Thirteenth in the Love Game series. People were staring. And whispering. About her and Karev. Karev. They were whispering about her and Karev. Together. As a couple. The most annoying part about the whispering was, ever since she overheard an overexcited nurse squealing about how close they were to finally just doing it already, doing it was all she could think about.


**Everybody Talks**

…Thirteenth in the Love Game series

A **Grey's Anatomy** fic by Gigi

**Disclaimer:** At this point, I don't even want to own anything.

**A/N: HI, I'M NOT DEAD. Sorry for the massive hiatus, but I haven't really been bitten by the writing bug in a very long time. Especially not for Grey's, since I stopped watching after the trainwreck that was the musical episode. (Sorry, if you liked that.) But I can't sleep, despite the fact that I have work in a few hours, and I was just thinking about sexual tension. And **_**BOOM!**_** Writing bug bit. Enjoy!**

It started with a whisper.

But that's how everything starts in the massive rumor mill that is Seattle Grace Hospital.

But no matter how softly that first whisper was spoken, there was no denying how quickly _this_ piece of gossip flew around the staff.

A piece of gossip that involved a certain redheaded attending and her smart-mouthed intern.

The whisper was but a short question from a new nurse to another nurse, who knew the smart-mouthed intern on a most intimate level. Coincidentally, this nurse was also a redhead.

"_Are Dr. Montgomery-Shepherd and Dr. Karev, like, a _thing_?"_

As soon as that question was whispered, Olivia's jaw dropped open…and that small whisper reverberated throughout the entire hospital.

Suddenly, every nurse, every intern, resident and attending, even a few nosy patients, scrutinized and examined any and all interaction between Dr. Addison Montgomery (formerly Montgomery-Shepherd), the world-class neonatal surgeon and OB/GYN with a specialty in genetics, and Dr. Alex Karev, the Mark Sloan of the surgical interns—cocky, flirtatious and infuriatingly good at his job.

And the funniest part about this whisper?

It was whispered while Addison was still married to Dr. Derek Shepherd, while Alex still called her the "She-Shepherd" and cursed her existence at every opportunity for her trapping him in her specialty.

The nurse had been working at the front desk, when she looked up at the stairs and saw Addison—with her hair in a sleek bun, her attire professional and yet completely alluring, one hand on the railing, one on her hip—standing but one step away from Alex, her face inches from her face and her expression hiding a glint of smug triumph. The nurse was standing too far away to hear anything, but she could tell Addison's words were for Alex's ears and his ears only. If the nurse was being quite honest with herself, she would have said that it seemed both doctors almost held themselves back from each other. There was a certain kind of stiffness that both of them possessed that the nurse could only identify as tightly restrained lust.

And so the nurse leaned over to Olivia, subtly nodded to the stairs and asked that simple question in a whisper.

And it got everybody talking for months.

* * *

As Addison strode down the hallway to the waiting Dr. Karev at the nurses station, she wondered, not for the first time, if people were staring at her. Not that she wasn't already used to that. A small smirk crept onto her face. No, she knew when people stared at her, be it for her world-renowned surgical skills or for her looks. A sour taste filled her mouth at her next thought. She also knew people stared at her because she cheated on McDreamy with McSteamy. Half the people who gossiped about that despised her for it, and the other half was collectively green with envy.

_Okay, so not my proudest moment_, she thought to herself. _But can people please move on?_

But this staring, the staring that only seemed to happen when she was around Karev, seemed to occur with baited breath, like the whole hospital was waiting for something.

_Are they waiting for me to finally whack him with a chart?_ Addison mused as she approached the nurses station. "Morning, Karev," she greeted, trying to keep any traces of amusement out of her voice.

"Dr. Montgomery," Karev answered, stepping in a little closer. Addison tried to ignore the way his voice made her pulse quicken ever so slightly. Maybe she was just a little bit out of shape.

A little voice in Addison's head laughed at the suggestion.

She quickly scanned through the charts for the patients they would be rounding on, her eyes alighting on baby Laura Grey-Thompson, the baby who had been born not being able to breathe, the baby who was, for all intents and purposes, Meredith Grey's niece. She stared at that name for a few seconds, not noticing how closely Karev stood by her. But then, he didn't notice that either; he was simply reading over her shoulder.

The nurses standing right in front of them wished they had a camera. The second-year residents standing a few feet away started taking bets about who would break first and when. Dr. Burke simply glanced a half-second longer at the pair than he would have normally before he continued on his way to the OR, subtly flexing his hand at his side.

Snapping the chart closed, Addison straightened, accidentally brushing Karev's front in the process and chalking up the resulting shock to static electricity. "Alright, NICU first. Dr. Bailey should already be there with the rest of your group," she announced, already walking down the hall. "You'll remain after rounds in the NICU, of course." She shot a smirk back at Karev, who tried to grumble about gynie squad. He didn't grumble too much, though.

Addison looked almost…proud of Alex when he professionally and thoroughly presented each and every patient in the NICU. He had to have imagined it, but he was pretty proud of himself, too. He even had Yang looking a little impressed.

Bailey's expression didn't change.

Soon, Bailey and the rest of the interns left, leaving just him, Addison and the newborns. He looked up from updating one of the babies' charts to see a tender look on the redhead's face as she peered down on Laura Grey's sleeping face. Slowly he walked up to the other side of the isolate, and looked at the baby as well.

"She really is tiny," he whispered.

He watched as his boss slipped a slender finger into the isolate and softly caressed Laura's cheek. The infant turned ever so slightly into the warmth. "She really is," Addison agreed just as quietly. "But she's a fighter."

Before he could stop himself, a small chuckle escaped his mouth. "You know, you say that about every baby you operate on."

Clear blue eyes shifted their gaze up from the newborn to the intern, who was much too slow to wipe the friendly expression from his face in favor of a surly one. "And it's true for every baby I operate on," she affirmed. "But it's a very good thing she's a fighter. With her extended family, she's going to need to be."

Alex smirked. "Yes, a completely professional and objective opinion, I'm sure."

Addison couldn't fight the small smile that made its way onto her face as she returned to stroking Laura's cheek. "Just look at her," she all but cooed.

Alex didn't listen. He was too fascinated by the woman standing across from him. The way her head tilted to the side, making her dark red hair fall against her cheek; the way her lips curved slightly upward; the way her eyes were suddenly so much brighter and filled with adoration for the tiny creature whose life she saved. It all fascinated him. He didn't notice the tenderness in his own expression, but then again, he didn't have a mirror.

All he could think of at that moment was how beautifully serene Addison looked. It made him wonder why his heart was racing.

"Karev?" Alex snapped out of his reverie to realize that now those blue eyes were focused on him. That she possibly noticed him noticing her.

A nurse walked by the windows of the NICU, glancing up and seeing Addison resting one arm on an isolate and caught in a staring contest with Alex. She quickened her pace to tell the other nurses on call.

* * *

Addison knew she wasn't imagining it this time. People were staring. And whispering. About her and Karev.

_Karev_.

They were whispering about _her_ and Karev.

Together.

As a couple.

The most annoying part about the whispering was that, ever since she overheard an overexcited nurse squealing about how close they were to finally just doing it already, _doing it_ was all she could think about.

She crunched angrily on a carrot and pretended to read a medical journal at a table by herself, trying her hardest to rid the images that suddenly flew threw her mind. The images of him, inches from her face—not that that was particularly new, although she was usually the one to step that close—his chocolate brown eyes boring into hers with a burning intensity, as his hands slowly traveled up from her hips to just beneath her breasts and back down, leaving trails of fire with his fingertips that made her want to shiver.

No. She was _not_ fantasizing about that cocky intern. He could smirk at her all he wanted. She. Would. Not. Break.

Giving up on her lunch and the medical journal she didn't actually read, she picked up her tray and turned to leave—only to crash right into the cocky intern himself.

And her Diet Coke spilled all over them both.

As she tried to keep steady even breaths and not lash out and actually hit Karev with her tray, she closed her lab coat to cover her now extremely clingy shirt and dress, and with a withering glare, walked out of the cafeteria, depositing her tray on top of a trash can and trying to ignore the sudden chatter among all the tables.

God, the nurses were going to have a field day with this one.

* * *

Alex walked into the attendings' locker room to apologize profusely for the incident in the cafeteria, but the apology died on his lips when he was greeted with the back of a topless Dr. Montgomery. He couldn't help the small groan of disappointment when she slipped a navy blue scrub top over her head.

Red hair whipped around at the quiet sound, and blue eyes widened in surprise before they narrowed in barely suppressed anger. "Is there a reason you're in here, Karev?" she all but hissed. "Was ruining my clothes and my dignity not enough for you today?"

"Hey, I ruined my clothes, too," Alex shot back, suddenly remembering his shirt was still sticky and wet and holding it off of his chest so that his wifebeater wouldn't be too wet.

"Well this isn't where you should change, Karev," Addison snapped.

Alex didn't get it one bit. "I'm here to apologize, but why the hell are you so mad at me? It was an _accident_. It's not like I planned for you to spill your drink all over both of us."

It was probably just a trick of the light, but Alex could have sworn he saw a slight tinge of pink come to Addison's cheeks. "Why not? It isn't like you wouldn't do anything to get off my service." She was grasping at straws; they both knew it. And it finally clicked for Alex. She was looking everywhere but at him now. He was actually making the great Addison Forbes Montgomery _nervous_.

Alex stepped forward slowly, his face, for once, earnest. "Not anymore, I wouldn't," he declared. The statement surprised Addison so much that she didn't notice how close he'd gotten until he was mere inches away from her. "You forced me to actually appreciate gynie squad. Don't make me regret it by becoming McBitch again."

Addison's eyebrows rose to her hairline and her chest puffed up in outrage. "McBitch? Excu—" She wasn't able to finish her rant because all of a sudden her lips were otherwise occupied. Karev was kissing her for all he was worth, and she couldn't find it in herself to object. Actually, there was something that was bothering her.

Breaking the kiss, she tried to sound as _not_ out of breath as possible as she tugged at his drenched scrub top. "You're sticky, and I don't need you ruining my scrubs, too," she announced.

A smirk spread across Alex's face. "So you want me to take my shirt off." Addison leveled a stare at him, daring him to mock her. His smirk stayed in place as he acquiesced and removed the offending stickiness, leaving him in his black wifebeater and scrub pants.

Despite the fact that just twenty minutes ago she was fighting the idea of her and Karev with everything she had, Addison was quite ready to believe that nobody had ever looked that good while still clothed. Her eyes darkened a few shades as they took in the way the wifebeater lined his torso and his shoulders. When her gaze met his once again, she ignored the smirk, too busy feeling his fingers lightly trailing up and down her sides.

_Screw it_.

She closed the gap between their bodies, just in time for him to fully wrap his arms around her waist and crash his lips onto hers. Fire raced through her body, and she arched into him, smirking into the kiss at his appreciative growl.

Neither of them heard the door swing open as Dr. Burke walked into the locker room as he shook out his hand. The cardiothoracic surgeon stood still, his face never shifting from his solemn expression, but he forgot about his hand. Turning around and leaving as quickly as possible, he rushed to find Christina, hoping she could shed some light on the weirdest sight he'd ever seen.

A whispered conversation that Olivia overheard.

And whispered to her friend.

**A/N: I AM SO EXCITED TO BE WRITING AGAIN. I'm a little rusty, and this is really just a fic I wrote in two hours. It's now three in the morning, and I will be waking up in three and a half hours. I really hope you enjoyed my return to writing, and I****would love it if you **_**reviewed!**_


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